Artist:  Spoken
Album: Last Chance to Breathe
Tooth and Nail Records
12 tracks, ~45 minutes
Reviewed by Evan Stanek

 

In my closing days at engineering school, everyone in my class had to do a senior project of sorts.  Some people sought to get by with a minimal amount of work in order to consume the most refreshments, others set their sites on building a walking talking robot with powers for good or for awesome.  Usually these people failed, but tried to butter up their project by writing a fancy report about why their robot didn’t work.  Of course there was always the exception, the genius, who succeeded in such ventures, and they’re now building robots for Mars landings or whatever.  At first I was impressed by the undertakings of the big projects, even though their designer had in most cases failed.  As I started to think, I identified a fourth type of student, the average kid who picked an average project and made it all work.  In reality, even though he set his goals lower, he accomplished more than the kid with lofty sites who failed.

Now to the point, in the musical world, there are bands that suck and know it but become rock stars in the process and enjoy every minute of success that their mediocrity has bought them.  They butter up their product with sleek production, pretty packaging and mega tours. Others attempt to achieve so much more than they are capable, and those bands fall evidently short.  Then of course there are pure genius bands that set trends and break boundaries but still somehow are under appreciated.  And then there are the bands (in this case Spoken) that just get the job done to the best of their ability.

“Last Chance to Breathe” doesn’t diverge too much stylistically from their previous album “A Moment of Imperfect Clarity”, but is overall better.  The vocals and instrumentation have taken a step up, the production is top notch, and the songs as a whole are catchier, purposeful, and concise.  Lyrically the first few songs deal with a love relationship, and even though the words have been said before, it seems heartfelt and genuine.  September and Wind in My Sails are hook laden and rock-radio worthy.  Later on, the CD takes on a more spiritual note with songs like Everything is Burning, You’re Still Waiting, and Bitter Taste, the strongest song on the album featuring shouts of Cory of Norma Jean.  In all, they’ve achieved exactly what they were shooting for, improving on their sound and delivering a CD in step with the times. 

In short, If you appreciated Spoken’s last album, take a listen. If you’re looking for something new and groundbreaking, look elsewhere.